Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6
Hands-on Preview

Less than a year after releasing the G5, Panasonic is back with another mid-range G-series Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens camera aimed at the upper entry-level DSLR/ILC market. The G6 sits above the recently-announced GF6 and below the GH3 in Panasonic's lineup and, although most of its key specifications are fairly familiar to anyone that's been watching the G-series for a while, the G6 does bring a couple of interesting new features, as well as some solid specification upgrades.

An interesting new feature is 'Clear Retouch', - a simple touch-based 'heal' tool. This function can be applied to captured images in review mode - you simply touch the area that you wish to clone-out and the camera attempts a context-aware fill, removing the offending object/blemish. We've only had a limited time with a pre-production camera, but we're not all that impressed by the feature's implementation. The 'healing' seems to be based on a highly simplistic proximity match, which we've found is more likely to insert bizarre, distracting textures than to effectively conceal unwanted scene elements.

More usefully, the G6 joins the GF6 in offering Near Field Communcation (NFC). NFC is a very short-range means of exchanging data that allows the camera to share details of its Wi-Fi connection with compatible smartphones or tablets through simply touching them against one another. The list of compatible devices includes many recent Android devices, though Apple has yet to embrace the technology.

Panasonic G6 specification highlights

16MP Live MOS sensor

ISO 160-12,800 (extendable up to 25,600)

3.0", 1.04 million dot capacative LCD

1.44 million dot OLED electronic viewfinder with eye sensor

Full AVCHD 1080/60p video with full manual control (and 2.4X digital teleconverter option)

3.5mm external mic socket

7 frames per second continuous shooting, 5 fps with AF-tracking

23 Scene modes including 'Cute Dessert' and 'Sweet Child's Face'

iAuto mode can automatically detect when to use 9 scene modes

'Clear Retouch' touch gesture-based heal tool

In terms of core photographic features, the G6 offers a solid set of specifications, including the same sensor as the once range-topping GH2, albeit without that model's multi-aspect feature. Maximum effective resolution is 16MP effective, from 18MP (total pixels). Panasonic claims that the G6 offers superior image processing though, including improved noise reduction enabling it to achieve a maximum native ISO sensitivity of 12,800, extendable up to ISO 25,600.

Like its predecessors, the G6 has a built-in electronic viewfinder, an OLED unit no less, boasting 1.44 million dots (800 x 600 resolution). We're not sorry to say goodbye to the older field-sequential technology, with its associated issues with rainbow 'tearing' (issues that are not unique to Panasonic). Panasonic claims that the G6's finder is three times more responsive than that of the G5, too, and our first impressions are certainly very encouraging.

Of course, there's more than one way to compose your image, and the G6's fully-articulated rear display offers 1.04 million dot resolution. This is essentially a slightly wider, 3:2 aspect ratio screen, rather than the G5's 4:3 panel. As we'd expect from recent Panasonic G-series cameras it's also touch-sensitive though it now uses a capacative system that offers multi-touch control and should be more responsive than the pressure-senstive example that came before it. That said, as usual for mid-range and high-end G-series cameras, the G6 still has plenty of 'hard' control points for photographers that prefer a more traditional ergonomics.

NFC-simplified Wi-Fi connection

Connecting the G6 to a an NFC-equipped smartphone is as simple as starting the Panasonic Image App, pressing the Wi-Fi button on the camera and tapping the two devices together. NFC works over such short distances it may take a couple of attempts to locate the antenna on your smart device, but once located, it's all pretty simple.

If your device doesn't have NFC, the process involves manually selecting the right Wi-Fi connection in your phone's settings, then typing in a fairly long password (as is the case with most Wi-Fi cameras). Once you've paired your devices, the camera will remember the connection to speed up the process in future.

The Panasonic Image App on iOS gives a live view image and allows you to set the focus point, take the exposure or control the zoom if you're using a power zoom lens.

The equivalent app for Android also gives the option to control manual focus. Panasonic says the apps will also give the ability to control exposure parameters (as is the case with the Lumix Link app for the GH3).

Both apps also allow you to view the contents of the camera's memory card and transfer images (at various sizes) across to the 'phone.

The Panasonic Image App gives a pretty good level of control over the camera - allowing the user to position the camera's focus point, control a power zoom lens and the ability to control exposure (though this didn't appear to be available when we tried the currently-available version of the app). Once a shot is taken, it can be uploaded across to your smartphone - either at full or reduced resolution.

In addition to smartphone connections, the G6 allows you to create an account on Panasonic's Lumix Club cloud service. With this established, you can send images up to Lumix Club by connecting to a local Wi-Fi router, with the option that they are then posted on to various popular social networks, via Lumix Club. Alternatively, if you're connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your computer, you can get the camera to push all your images across to your computer as you shoot.

An advantage of using the GH2's sensor is that the G6 is able to offer more comprehensive video functions than the G5. It gains a socket for attaching an external mic as well as gaining full PASM exposure control over its movie capture. The G6 can capture movies in 1080 60p/60i/30PsF and 24p in AVCHD mode, along with 60p and 30p video in MP4 format (Cameras bought in PAL regions get the same combinations but with 50 and 25 frames per second).

Compared to its peers:

The Panasonic G6 and Olympus' flagship Micro Four Thirds camera, the OM-D, have similar dimensions but the retro-styled Olympus looks considerably skinnier and more angular. The G6's generous grip is very obvious in this view - the OM-D is not uncomfortable to use, but the G6's sculpted handgrip gives a really secure hold.

Despite the different approaches to body design the control and button layout of the two cameras is not too dissimilar, with a four-way controller and a few buttons located to the right of the screen and a screen that can be flipped out and tilted. However, the Olympus features two control dials, while the less-expensive G6 only has one - a slightly 'plasticky' small dial on the upper right of the camera's rear.

The G6's general size and layoput are very similar to the its predecessor the G5, but the higher 'shoulders' of the new model are very obvious in this view.

On the back, there are few significant changes - the G6 features five customizable 'Fn' buttons, but has only one extra control point - a button for activating the camera's Wi-Fi mode at the extreme lower-right of the rear control cluster.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital
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you understand some of the terms used).

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Comments

Hi guys, Been eye-ing the G6 since its announcement. One thing I haven't seen is if Astrophotographers have used the G6 at all and how it performs. I've seen T-adapters for it to use in telescopes but no review whatsoever. I hope it's sensitive enough for AstroImaging.

Question: why not produce an all-round camera, integrating an EVF and a fast, reasonable zoom, which you can REALLY carry all-round around your neck all-day ?? I mean, without feeling like swearing or growling all the time ...??

Yes, Panasonic's core strength in this arena is video. That's old news since the GH1, and it's strange that people still act as if shooting video is some minor niche.

At any rate, it's still a rather small camera, and MFT lenses are still significantly smaller than APSC lenses, so...Clearly, the total package of G6+lens is much smaller and lighter than APSC+lens. =/

Wonder why Panasonic does not mount the Leica 2.8 on such a camera! If it fits into a $500 FZ 200, cost wise, it would make a great package at < $1000 with a 4/3" or another>1" sensor. That should cure the IQ gripe once and for all.

I think this would be too easy for us - customers.They spent too much money for producing so many lens and having just one lens with light 2.8 and range from 25 to 600 is not a good option for having a daily business with consumer world...

are you kidding? the fz200 has a cheap lousy TINY sensor, that is about 1/4 the size of an MFT sensor, requiring a much smaller lens, that costs way less to manufacture.

another thing, don't forget that you would be losing out on sharpness and contrast in big parts of the zoom range - most likely at longest (tele) and often on wide as well. sure, it would be practical, but soon you'll be wondering why your pictures aren't as good as you'd like them to be.

a superzoom doesn't do justice to the larger sensor, so it would defeat the purpose. not to mention higher costs given the larger lens required.

First, my thanks to DP Review for it's service to the photo community. The information is essential to making informed perchase decisions. Still wish Panasonic would address the lame flash systems in the G cameras. Oly has really put effort in advancing their flash capabilities but Panasonic seams to ignore this essential component. Of couse they could always come out with a Leaf shutter portrait lens, 1/500 synch should be easy with the small diameter shutter for 4/3. So much potential, for wildlife, travel, portrait - sigh. No serious long lenses, badly overpriced primes, no real macro, no alternate power sources, oh well.

I also want to express my appreciation of the reviewer and of DP reviews. I didn't like much what seemed to be a cavalier attitude towards the G6, but there are also more reasoned things in the review and in other reviews by the same author.

I appreciate all your DP Reviews. The Full Reviews are comprehensive and a wealth of information to read. However, some of the Preview's don't go forward into Full Reviews for various reasons.

Would there be a possibility of incorporating the ISO test widget for peviewed cameras (that a production ready of course), perhaps sacrificing time from the initial impression paragraphs? The specs are needed, and I think the ISO image quality shots would be welcome by most enthusiasts.

Read the introduction again, and found it even more condescending than I had before. I am interested in just how good the NR is and how improved its RAW output relative to the G5 and both EM5 and GH3. Yes I know the sensors of the latter two are the latest m4/3rds ones, but lets see how the G6 actually performs. This may be an important camera for a lot of people, in spite of the snobism of these reviewers.

I generally don't like slr styled cameras, but this one somehow really tickles my fancy. And size is pretty good, cause gh3 was way too large. Lets see what EP5 will look like, not big fan of EM5 style.

The PANASONIC / LEICA opted for OIS for allowing a faster response to movements, prospectic correction to the angular change and ability to get closer to the sensor with the lens giving more freedom to the designers of the optical assembly. The disadvantage is that each of OIS lens must have one, thus more expensive, and the rotational motion of the lens axis (Z-axis, perpendicular to the sensor) is not corrected, although this movement is very limited in practice. The IBIS allows cheapen the objective and make the correction of the rotational motion on the axis ("Z") of the lens (including correct the horizon angle) but does not address the prospectic variation due to angular changes in the X and Y axes of the sensor. I believe that the sensor will not move as effective as moving a small block of lenses when it comes to compensate for high frequency instability. I also think that in terms of durability is better shake a small block of lenses than the sensor with its flat cables.

With the raised shoulders, it looks a bit like S2 little brother. I never cared much for the look of the Panasonic G/GH cameras, but I think this is an improvement. Has less "designed by committee" feel to it.

It is similar. Almost the same DxOMark scores in every category (if it is the same as G5 as it probably is).Default Canon JPEGs are probably a little warmer, but it is just a little adjustment away either way. Also, with G6 you can use viewfinder with video (and effects preview etc), it is smaller and lighter, and shoots faster it needed. With the new 14-140 must be a great travel camera.

It would be interesting to see a size comparison - with lenses. If the size difference isn't a decider I would assume the lens choice would make quite a difference.

I would like to see comparisons of actual "kits" - not just base kits, but the body, and good lenses as a total cost/solution, or a few alternates which would talk about quality and application trade-offs- light, zoom, portrait, sports and such. Great information as always.

The G6 uses the same sensor as the G5 and the GH2, right? Panasonic's press release says "the new Venus Engine is attains high-performance signal processing with the advanced noise reduction system." I'm wondering to what extent image quality can be enhanced without changing the sensor. Any thoughts?

I love the G5; it handles great and produces great images but at about ISO 1600 noise starts to become an issue. If the G6 produces a one-stop equivalent advantage over the G5 in terms of noise I will definitely buy it.

Panasonic G5 was already a serious upgrade for the G-series of cameras, GH3 became the true semi-/pro-hybrid camera, but the G6 offers a few new features that even the GH3 doesn't (yet) have:* Focus Peaking that shows the peak of focus in MF and AF+MF mode* EV -3 - 18 (ISO100 equivalent) AF Detective Range,* 1080p@60fps video in Extra Tele Conversion (ETC) mode (the GH3 tops out at 1080@30P in ETC),* 7 fps @16Mpix&AFSingle, 5 fps @16Mpix&AFTracking and 40fps burst mode (versus 6fps@AFS and 20fps in GH3),* 1,728-zone multi-pattern light metering system (versus 144-zone in GH3),* Stop Motion Video, Sweep Panorama* 1,036K dots TFT LCD screen (versus 614K dots OLED LCD in GH3)* Adjustable HDR mode. While the Panasonic G5/GH3 have an in-camera HDR mode, there is only an On or Off setting with no scope to tone down the effect.* NFC +better Wi-Fi: The G6 have wireless recording function with start/stop recording and 30fps video stream feed to tablet/smartphone.

I'm not into the video stuff myself, but I know people who will go berserk over it. They'll LOVE it. I am looking at the G6 as a remarkably fully specced stills camera. It looks great. Th only doubt I had was that the E-P5 might eclipse it -- but no, the E-P5 hasn’t got an EVF. Same old add-on but now they have added a lock after years of complaints.

And it STILL obviously hasn’t got anything like the ergonomics of the G6 (or the G1 if it comes to that).

At first I was skeptical about Panasonic being able to squeeze more out of the outdated sensor. But from the sample photos I've seen at ePhotozine.com, the images look really impressive, clean and sharp, with loads of detail. Unfortunately, they also appear dull and flat. Hopefully that can be fixed with simple adjustments in LR.

Panasonic has always had poor colors out of camera compared to, say, Olympus. (I've shot both extensively.) The default white balance is "not warm" to say the least, and contrast is not good. But if you work with them a little bit, you get some great images.

I have to ay I abandoned the G1 for the E-PL3 to get superior JPEG colors OOC. The sample pix I saw from the G5 were close enough to the Oly pix to encourage me to return from the Oly which is an ergonomic disaster area but I wasn't ready to change over.

I'll be in a position to change cameras in the next few months; the G6 is looking very much like the way to go.

GH2 is a very impressive camera 101% on video and 80% on stills. But this was years ago. The G6 have a beautiful exterior but an aged heart [sensor] yes, you will get great photos from it but it will never come close in the present sensor technology. Panasonic makes great lenses its a given fact that the sensors should evolve not only to compete but to satisfy consumers/users alike. I want it but with the prices of GH2 today - still GH2 is the better choice to get instead of G6. This action not only killed the G5 sales but also push MFT shooters to go jump ship. This is an unfortunate reality.

The G5, whether you fancy it the greatest or worst camera of all time, was consigned to the bargain bin by its unexciting sensor choice - at a time when that decision made a lot more sense than choosing the same sensor now. Panasonic obviously learned nothing from this course of events.

I've used the G5, and although there are many things to like about it there is no way I would settle for its sensor at even half the price of an OMD. Once you grab the highlight slider in LR and bring back a perfectly blue sky out of apparent nothingness you can't go back. Consumers tend to see things from their perspective, not in terms of the easiest or most corporately defensible choice for the manufacturer. They see how affordable the E-PM2 and deduce that its superior sensor carries no particularly pronounced price premium. And they want the same in their new G6, if they were going to spend their hard-earned money on one.

The difference in reality { as ,opposed to in the heads of some optimistic Olympus users }between the E-M5 and the G5 boils down to .7 of a stop DR and approx 0.3 of a stop ISO .Which while no doubt beneficial in specific scenarios is in most shooting situations pretty insignificant. If you want to get a really substantial gain in sensor output then you really need to move up in sensor size.http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Compare-Camera-Sensors/Compare-cameras-side-by-side/%28appareil1%29/816|0/%28brand%29/Panasonic/%28appareil2%29/793|0/%28brand2%29/Olympus/%28appareil3%29/814|0/%28brand3%29/NikonThe E-PM2 as with other Pens is feature limited with poor ergonomics , an expensive external EVF to bring it in-line with a G series camera , nor does it even have an articulating screen and it comes with a stupid clip-on flash. I would take a G6 or G5 for that matter over any Pen model. Even with the E-M5 the only significant advantage is the excellent 5-AXIS IBIS,

As I have both a G5 and an OMD in the house, perhaps you'll spare me your definition of what the difference 'actually' is. I've shot the cameras; I know. A lifetime of DXOMark study will not ever illustrate the 'actual' difference. And like most serious m43 shooters, I came from cameras with larger sensors, and having done so have a much better idea of the affect of sensor size than most.

You've also taken my point about the E-PM2 totally out of context. I did not say it is a better or worse camera than the G6, only that the appearance of the Sony sensor in such a budget-conscious product reveals that it could also have appeared in the G6 without breaking the bank. If your D800 had a recycled two-generation old sensor I really doubt you would have invested, and I don't view the G6 any differently.

The GH3 has a Sony sensor, and it has better DR and ISO performance, but it also has way more moire. I'd prefer less moire, so I'm glad that kept their in-house sensor, as they apparently know how to avoid moire better than Sony does.

An impressive 5 Fn buttons? Aargh! These things are more a curse than a blessing. Who can honestly remember which function was allocated to which button? And what you changed it to last?I would be much more impressed with less Fn buttons - just put the things that are needed onto well marked buttons and the rest of the stuff into the menus. An Fn button is effectively just a badly marked button IMHO.

I think less customization would be needed if a little common sense entered the determination of the default controls for most modern cameras.

To whit - only Pentax can figure out that in the digital age there is no reason to maintain ISO as a secondary function. What I mean here is that although you might be able to assign ISO to any of those 5 buttons, you have the aperture or shutter (and exposure compensation... argh!) as choices for the dials. Why do you always want to have to press a button before adjusting ISO? Why is changing ISO any less likely than changing aperture or shutter speed? Well, it is if you are stuck in film-think...

It's really frustrating how vital they deem exposure compensation to be. You must burn one of the two dial functions on it, even though there 8 other ways to invoke this function, including the otherwise useless rocker switch by the shutter. Why have all those other methods if you aren't going to let the user re-purpose the dial function?

The comment "An advantage of using the GH2's sensor is that the G6 is able to offer more comprehensive video functions than the G5." strikes me as peculiar. The G5 has the same sensor as the GH2 and G6 and the difference in feature sets was a choice Panasonic made, not some inherent difference in the sensor.

Otherwise, the G6 looks terrific. The real GH2 replacement (although the G5 remains a heck of a value and a good replacement for stills and some video.) Also it is the real poor man's GH3. Considering that the practical difference in RAW between all the 16mp m4/3 sensors is minimal, this is looking like a lot of camera for the money.

I've been using an E-PL5 for the past few week and I have a GH2, and disagree. "The practical difference in RAW between all the 16mp m4/3 sensors" is fairly significant in terms of DR and color depth. The difference is just not as great as DPR has lead people to believe when they wrote "for most people to get better IQ than the OMD they'd have to go to FF". This is simply not true. All you need to do is work with files from the D7000, D7100, D5200 or K5 to get better than files from the Olympus cameras. Richer colors, better DR, DOF control, cleaner at base ISO and high ISO.

But I do agree that sites like DxOMark have confused some into thinking that for general shooting there is a huge difference between the Panasonic and Olympus m43 cameras in terms of overall IQ. There are some differences, but files side by side they are not as dramatic as some would have you believe with all this talk of sensors.

With this camera and the other larger MFT cameras that Panasonic makes, it is obvious that the body is large in relation to the lens. It is further obvious that the reason is that for these cameras, the body needs to be larger in order to allow a useful quantity of physical controls. This is all very obvious. There can be no argument on these points. There can be no question that this camera could just as easily take advantage of an APS-C sensor, and not even the lens would be larger, because similar lenses that Sony makes for NEX are not any larger. None of this is in any way deniable. Furthermore, when the various size differences are all considered, it seems apparent that if Sony were to make a mirrorless camera with FF sensor, it would be about the size of this camera, albeit with a somewhat larger lens. (The lens would not be nearly as large as a lens for FF with mirror.)

And the point? You want Panasonic to abandon MFT? You'd prefer Sony to make the camera of your dreams?

Alternate hypothesis: Body is larger because market research shows that larger camera bodies are taken more seriously by the target audience (let's face it, Nikon and Canon's FF bodies are a tad bit larger than their FF film bodies ever were).

I don't quite get why Sony could or would make a FF body of this size, yet no other maker does. Faith that Sony can miniaturize better than anyone else? Physics is physics. Larger sensor requires larger glass. Could they build a really small box to put on the back of that larger lens? Yes, but I think we'd hear a whole lot about bad balance (the heavier the glass, the more leverage is needed to keep it level, hence a larger grip), and, yes, silly appearance.

The point is self-evident. A camera this size and with this size lens will be a better camera if it uses a larger sensor. The point is not for Panasonic to abandon MFT. The point is that for this size camera, the MFT sensor is smaller than is ideal. I am only really pointing what is obvious, but it has to be pointed out, because few people are saying it, and some people are trying to argue that it is not true. It obviously is true. For smaller, genuinely compact cameras, the MFT sensor makes perfect sense. But with every camera, the size of the sensor needs to be a good match to the size of the camera. You alternate hypothesis is moot, i.e., if the camera body is larger for reason A rather than reason B (and reason A and reason B being so closely coupled as to be nearly indistinct), the pertinent fact is still that the camera body is large relative to the sensor.

Arrgh. DaveMarx, as to your other point - You say that you don't get why Sony could do that "no other maker does", and talk about "physics is physics", etc. Well, comments of that sort are silly. OBVIOUSLY, the reason would only have to do with the manufacturer's demonstrated capability. You apparently have not bothered to compare the size of Sony's NEX lenses to the MFT lenses. One of the invalid assumptions that some people are evidently making is that a mirrorless FF camera would use the same size lenses as existing FF cameras with mirrors. This is wrong. When the lens moves closer to the sensor, it also gets smaller in diameter. Take the NEX-7, scale the lens diameter up by a factor less than 50%, and ditto for camera height. Why is it so difficult to visualize this being done, and how is it not obvious that the resulting camera body would be no larger than this? The lens itself would be larger in diameter than this lens, but by less than 50%. Not all of the diameter is optics.

What? You say you compared the size of sony NEX lenses to M43rds lenses. Then you say they are the same size. I am sorry but no!Fuji has managed to make some really small nice lenses. These I would compare with M43rds. Sony on the hand has large lenses. Even Samsung has some nice small lenses that Sony hasn't been able to produce yet.

I agree with kaiser soze. But... putting an APS-C in there would ramp up the prices on MFT cameras even more. This might not be a problem with MFTs if, to generate demand, they could be marketed with more attention to those who generally buy (sub-"enthusiast") point-and-shoot cameras. Look at what Nikon is able to get away with, thanks to those ridiculous Ashton Kutcher commercials and the sub-par "1" series. A few friends have bought Nikon 1's thinking that ILC intrinsically implies higher quality photos. Well, for MFT that is that is the truth. MFT manufacturers need to take advantage of that perception and get these cameras in the hands anyone who wants to pretend they're a pro.

One of the problems with an increased video spec is overheating. This has long been a topic on the various GH2 hack forums. Cameras of some other manufacturers (not Panasonic) even lock up under extended video use. So when you have a much increased bitrate, etc. your camera needs to be bigger to dissipate heat. This to me is as logical an explanation for the size of the camera as the need for buttons on the exterior. The body could be smaller and still accept a lot of buttons.

Also, having been with m43 since the G1, I switched from Olympus DSLRs to Panasonic m43 BECAUSE of the larger Panasonic body size, which was easier to handle and included a built-in viewfinder. None of the Oly models offered a built-in viewfinder until the OM-5.

Lens diameter goes up in proportion to sensor size. Lens mass (glass) goes up as the CUBE of sensor size. So you'd expect the glass in FF lenses to be roughly 8x heavier. This isn't just physics, it's middle school math.

The lens as seen in the photo does look a little too small compared with the body. However, this is the Panasonic 2013 standard kit lens, and was designed so that the GF6 is a more compact package (the old kitlens looked way too big on the GF series... almost NEX like). They are going to use the same kitlens on every camera... its just that on the more block fronted G6 its a bit swamped.

Put another zoom lens on this G6 and it will look much better proportioned. Go to four-thirds.org, choose the matching simulator and try it out. The bigger grip will work well if you use the 100-300mm supertele zoom.

Again: The G5 uses the GH2 sensor.... they only disabled the Multi-Aspect-Ratio system and changed the readout method. And the lossless Tele Conversion is also found in the G5 although it is a 2.4 conversion. (which is the same as the G6, see text above, no idea where you picked up 4.8?)

A 50mm lens is 100mm equivalent on m43. Then you times that by 2.4x, and you get 240mm equivalent for a 50mm lens, which is 4.8x.

It really is an amazing feature for video. I have a Nikon manual focus 180mm f2.8, which on this camera using the extended tele feature would be 864mm f2.8 equivalent. It is useful for video of birds, the moon, etc. With some lenses that already have a semi-macro feature, like the Olympus 70-300mm, you can use the ETC for extreme closeups. You can fill the video frame with a butterfly's head, that kind of thing.

Is this a 2.4x "digital" teleconverter option, as described in the introduction?

I know on the G2 and the GH2 it was what I (at least) would call an "optical" teleconverter option, i.e., there is no up-rezzing involved, simply a crop of the sensor so that a smaller part of the sensor was sampled (enough for 1080 resolution, much smaller than the full sensor resolution, rather than downsizing the full sensor resolution to 1080 without teleconverter).

If this is the same as the GH2 and G2 teleconverters (and it may not be!), I don't think it makes sense to call it a "digital" teleconverter option; in that case, sampling a DX-sized piece of an FX sensor, at lower resolution and without up-rezzing, would also be a "digital" teleconversion, and I don't think most people would agree with that terminology.

Have always thought the G5 looked like the S2 shrunk in the wash and the G6 more so, but why the gratuitous "of all things" comment? A bit of a put down - yes we know it is not a medium format camera. I am not a big fan of any DSLR design, but the S2 -and maybe the G6 - are the cleanest.

This camera is clearly not the EM5 killer that Panasonic might yet produce. But it looks like an attractive refinement of the G5 which itself is an excellent camera.

Now that's a silly comment. Each to his own. While I think the OM-D is a nice camera and would like one some day to complement my Panasonic bodies, it looks like something out of an Anime comic book to me. But I would never post that just to sound clever. Or did I just do that :-)

Luckily for them (and it's about the only bit of luck they've had since that time), horse design has remained relatively stable with no "improved" three- or five-legged versions appearing to cause them confusion and "upgrade" envy.

The lack of sensor upgrade over the G5 is a little disappointing but the GH2 sensor is very good except at the highest iso's.

For me the excellent ergonomics, very fast operation and focusing, optional silent shutter, EVF and articulating display on these camera makes for a compelling feature set. I find the buttons really well placed and you effectively have 'dual control dials' as the lever in front of the shutter release is very handy for exposure compensation.

If it looks a bit large in the photos I encourage you to try one in the flesh. It's a lot smaller than nearly all DSLRs - especially with the new more compact lens. And no, I don't work for Panasonic.

"The lack of sensor upgrade over the G5 is a little disappointing but the GH2 sensor is very good except at the highest iso's."

While I agree with you, my G5 easily outshoots my GH2 in shadows in RAW. So I am not unhappy that Panasonic have chosen to update the GH2 sensor for the G6. Look at how much improvement they squeezed out of the GF5 sensor at 12mp as an example of what can be done on the cheap. And the practical difference in raw between all the 16mp sensors is not enough to get too twisted about anyway in my opinion.

So this is looking pretty darned good to me. I may sell off some equipment to grab the new body ...

"the practical difference in raw between all the 16mp sensors is not enough to get too twisted about anyway in my opinion."

Agreed - I guess I only put the sensor comment in there because everyone else was going on about. If I wanted the ultimate low light cam I'd go full frame. For everything else, m4/3 is fantastic for me. I didn't expect much from the change to a mirrorless sytem from a DSLR but the faster focusing, silent shutter, real live view on an articulated LCD, fantastic readout in an EVF and small size / weight have been a revelation. I can deal with the fact that a 16mp NEX might have less noise at ISO 25,600!